The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-04-21

understood to be one Of the thirty.eight
charges against him.
John II. Hampton, attorney for the
Pennsylvania Company, was seen this
morning in the Office of a detective
agency, where, sitting amidst u hetero.
genious collection of plunder, be said:
"These robberies have been carried on
systematically for several years. The
company have long been aware that
there was leakage somewhere, and as
early rs September, 1886, they quietly
commenced investigations. Detectives
were placed on trains where goods could
be watched and the thieves caught. We
had already discovered that the culprits
were employees Of the company. In
September there were eighty crews of
freight trains on the Pan Handle Rail-
road coming into Pittsburg. Of these
not less than seventy.fve were found to be
crooked. a crew consists of a conductor,
fsgman and two brakemen. In some
cases all the men were involved in
others only part. The statement Chat
engineers and fremen were mixed up in
the robberies is wrong; not single one
is involved.
Goods were stolen in various ways.
In many instances seals broken, while in
others hatchets were used to cut hole
in the end of the car through which the
men crawled and took what they coveted.
Then they reported the car in bad con-
dition, claiming that the hole had been
made by accident. The operations were
all the result of 8 combination. Ar
raugements were carefully made, and
each rascal was assigned to his particular
part of the work in much the same way
as bank robbery is conducted by pro.
fessional cracksmen. do not know that
the members of the combination were
oath bound, or anything of that kind,
but it is certain that a thorough under.
standing existed among them and they
acted in concert to cover each others
misdoings.
"The thing which alarmed us more
than anything else wan that they stole
large quantities of whiskey and drank it
in their houses. They needed vessels to
hold the liquor, 50 they stole milk cans
and kept it in them. Not daring to keep
whiskey openly in the cars, they tore up
the flooring and hid it underneath. The
men were continually reported drunk on
duty, and the probability of disaster was
something fearful to contemplate. All
kinds Of goods were stolen, including
sewing machines, guns, revolvers, cut
lery, silverware, cigars, clothing, liquors,
groceries, furniture, and in fact every
imaginable article that can be carried on
car were quietly removed. Depreda.
tions were committed all along the road,
and the losers reside ct points as far west
as Denver.
"sFences' were established in this
city, where the stolen property was taken
and then sold, the money being evenly
divided among the crews. 1t is impossi.
BILE to give the aggregate value of prop.
erty stolen, but it will not reach $500, 900,
as reported"
The arrests have created the greatest
excitement among the railroad employees
of this city. The scenes about the jail
doors this morning, where the relatives
of the prisoners had gathered to learn
causes of their arrests, were of saddest
description. Wives, children, parents,
brothers and sisters, with tear stained
faces, stood around the entrances to the
prison, eager to hear the latest develop.
ments and pleading with the officers for
admission to the Jail to see the prisoners.
At / o'clock ten more men were cap.
tured at the pay car while receiving their
wages. This makes total Of Sc now in
jail here, and it is supposed that as many
more have been apprehepded at other
points along the line.
CONSERVATION prevails among the pro.
prietors of the "fences" and dens where
the goods were secreted and sold. In
one instance the proprietor of a notori'
GUS den was detected in the act of burn
ing stolen property.
Nearly 200 warrants are still out, and
it is expected that the list of arrests in
this city will be swelled to 80 to night.
A number of houses in various parts Of
the city were raided to-day and large
quantity of goods recovered. Every
man arrested had stolen goods somewhere.
Among the prisoners are several des.
perate characters, who were wanted by
the police for other ofenses. They were
all armed, and when not taken by sur
prise resisted arrest. Numbers overpow-
cred them, however, and all were safely
lodged in Jail.
The most important arrest made here
was brakeman Young. He called at the
Jail to see one of the prisoners this morn.
ing and was Immediately locked up. At
first he protested that he was innocent,
but finally admitted that he had large
lot of property at his house, and told
how the goods had come into his posses
sion. This confession, it is said, will
convict thirteen crews.
kilograms from Cadiz, Steubenville
and points west of Columbus report the
arrest of large number of railroad EN-.
ployees implicated in the robberies. A
preliminary hearing will be held on
April 18th.
Specials from Denison, Ohio, report
the arrest there of J. R. Dunlap, leader
of the gang, and James and w. Coils,
with several thousands of dollars worth
of yplyets and high priced dry goods in